Arsenal’s €63.5m striker is reportedly learning Arabic, and the timing will only add fuel to the talk that he could be on his way out of north London in January.
Viktor Gyokeres has spent most of this season watching from the bench, and the speculation over his future has grown with every week he has waited for a start.
According to AFCAMDEN, the Swede has started learning Arabic. On its own, that proves nothing. Next to the clubs he has been linked with since the summer, though, it is a detail Arsenal fans will not ignore.
How did Gyokeres go from title winner to the bench?
Gyokeres joined from Sporting CP in July 2025 for an initial €63.5 million, with a further €10 million in add-ons, on a contract that runs to June 2030.
His first season went well. He scored 21 goals in all competitions, 14 of them in the Premier League, as Arsenal won the title and reached the Champions League final, which they lost to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties.
This season has been a different story. Kai Havertz has been ahead of him in Mikel Arteta’s plans, and Gyokeres started the Premier League campaign on the bench for seven matches. We looked at that striker dilemma before the trip to Anfield, when 561 goalless minutes and one goal all season summed up his autumn.
One start, one assist, one goal
His first league start finally came against Everton on 24 October. He played 68 minutes of the 2-0 win and set up Ezri Konsa’s opening goal.
Three days later he scored his first goal of the season in the Carabao Cup at Fleetwood Town. It did not save Arsenal, who went out 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
Then it was back to the bench. On Sunday he came on in the 84th minute for Havertz as Arsenal won 1-0 at Liverpool to end a 14-year wait at Anfield.
Saudi Arabia, Al-Ahli and Galatasaray
The Arabic lessons matter because of where the interest has come from. Reports in mid-October said Gyokeres is ready to push for a January exit, frustrated by his lack of starts and by Arsenal’s continued interest in Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez, a forward who was also on Arsenal’s summer striker shortlist.
Saudi Arabia has come up before. In the summer it was claimed that Gyokeres was not entirely unsellable and had been offered to Saudi clubs.
There have also been reports that Arsenal discussed a January swap with Al-Ahli involving England striker Ivan Toney. Galatasaray are in the picture as well, with Turkish media reporting in September that they are considering a winter move.
He has done this before
Gyokeres has picked up a language quickly in the past. He was reported to have mastered Portuguese within a year of moving to Lisbon, so a new one is hardly beyond him.
And he is still scoring for his country. In October he became the first player to score in seven consecutive Nations League matches, and he now has 25 goals in 41 appearances for Sweden.
What has Arteta said?
Arteta has stood by his striker in public. Before the Fleetwood tie, he said Gyokeres had won his position against both Everton centre-backs, but the ball simply did not reach him.
That is a defence of his work, not a promise of minutes, and Havertz starting at Anfield showed where the pecking order still stands.
Is Gyokeres heading for the Arsenal exit in January?
I would not read too much into a language app. Plenty of players learn something new for reasons that have nothing to do with their next club, and Gyokeres is under contract until June 2030.
But put it next to seven league games on the bench, one goal all season, a swap idea with Al-Ahli and Galatasaray circling, and it stops looking like a hobby. A striker who scored 21 goals in a title-winning season does not want to spend his peak years coming on in the 84th minute.
For Arsenal, it comes down to what Arteta can get in his place. If a top-class number nine is available in January, Gyokeres becomes the obvious player to move on. If not, keeping him as the alternative to Havertz still makes sense, whether he is happy about it or not.
